Blog→ Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Tom Recchion, But Were Afraid To Ask.

Tom Recchion has been a artist/composer/art director in Southern California since the 1970’s. He is the co-creator of the legendary Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS). At the time he discarded object making (though he employs it now) and concentrated on the ephemeral nature of sound. His early practice in low-tech sonic exploration presaged many of the genre's exciting developments of the last quarter-century: record manipulation, live tape loops, free improvisation, found and invented instruments, installation, and more.

In the LAFMS his group, The Doo-Dooettes, became one of the 3 anchor points for the collective's endeavors as well as playing in Airway, and many other groupings of the collective.

Currently and most proudly he is a secret member of Smegma, under the name Victor Sparks, and has formed a 'spin-off' group, The Rodney Forest, with fellow Smegma members, Ju Suk Reet Meat, and Oblivia/Rock and Roll Jackie, who will have a record on Qubico sometime this year.

He’s remixed for Oren Ambarchi, The Electric Company, Sun & Jim Thirwell. He also occasionally writes for WIRE magazine and has many recordings released. The solo releases “Freak Show” (cassette only), “Chaotica”, “I Love My Organ” and “Soundtracks To A Color: Gold & Black” (which accompanied a large scale installation), were released in 2004.

In 2006 a new solo CD came out in Italy on Giuseppe Ielasi’s Schoolmap label as their innagural release and a Christmas 7” single was recently released by Meeuw Muszak in Belgium.

His work has led him to many fruitful collaborations with film makers such as Janie Geiser. The result of which ended up being selected in the New York Film Festival of 1999 & Kirby Dick, as well as video artists Bruce & Norman Yonemoto and Branda Miller and has done work for the theatre, dance and performance artists.

He was awarded a 2004 COLA Fellowship in the visual arts. In the summer of 2004 he was awarded Best New Genre/Uncategorizable Artists by the LA Weekly Music Critics Poll. MOCA commissioned him to design and produce a listening room in support of their current exhibition “A Mininmalist Future?” which lead to the production of a 6 hour DVD survey overview of minimalist musicians, and curated 3 concerts which helped give birth to MOCA’s Immersion Concert series curated along with Robert Crouch.

He is developing a collaboration with monologist David Greenberger, another with sound artist John Weise. His most recent work was part of MOCA’s Visual Music exhibitions concert series, ‘See Hear Now!’ is an improvisation of sound and image with artist, filmmaker Jonathon Rosen.

He also just completed work with film maker/puppeteer Janie Geiser on a theatre piece called “Invisible Glass” for Cal Arts that made it’s premiere in April at the Redcat.

Afterwards he participated in SASSAS’ 'summer sound.' series in an evening of film makers and composers where he premiered 3 older video and film works from the 1970’s that had never been shown.

He is also a recipient of a Pasadena Cultural Arts grant for visual artists for which he will release a project called ‘78’, which is a 78rpm vinyl 10” lp that will be circulated in public spaces. Most recently he performed at the Getty Museum.